Jeffrey (1995)

Please don't spend money on this.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

New York City, mid 1990's, the heart of America's theater community, a mecca for artists, and thus, filled with a gay population that is certain to be over the rumored 10 percent. For handsome Steve Weber, frustration with his sex life and lack of a romantic life, his decision to concentrate only on working out is stalled with a handsome spotter (Michael Weiss) who happens to be HIV positive. This at first isn't an obstacle for the somewhat neurotic Weber but when it comes to making it to their first date, he can't bring himself to go there. So what does Weiss do? Call him up and ball him out? No. Go to a bar and drink to forget? No. He cries a little, dances around the room to get over his hurt, but then picks himself up, dusts himself off, and starts all over again. But like Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli in "Arthur", Weber and Weiss get caught between the moon and New York City, and thanks to some very understanding friends (among them, acerbic Patrick Stewart), come to terms with their differences, all with humor and tears, and only a bit of pathos.Gay camp humor is abound here as you have Sigourney Weaver as a self-help guru (she can spot a homosexual and a heavy-set woman with low-self esteem immediately in her audience), Christine Baranski as a socialite hosting a "Hoe-down for AIDS", Olympia Dukakis as the mother of a transsexual lesbian (shades of her character from "Tales From the City") and Nathan Lane as a show-tune singing priest. Stewart offers both bitchy humor ("Does this scarf make me look like some gay super hero?") and wise father-like advice as he deals with his own crisis (his dying lover, a chorus boy from "Cats" who shocks Stewart by revealing he has no idea who Ann Miller is!), while a cigarette smoking Mother Theresa look-alike keeps popping in and out. There's wonderful sights of New York's Greewich and West Village (Sheraton Square and Washington Square) and a disturbing gay bashing scene (where one of them appears to be hiding his own sexuality), plus a starry finale that might appear over the top and unrealistic, but certainly every romantic gay man's fantasy. So this isn't a picture perfect adaption of a hit Broadway play, but it is totally entertaining and fast moving, one that may satisfy more for its moments than its total structure. The acting is first rate, although some of the performances are often characteratures rather than fleshed out individuals. This makes it a bit sitcomish in spots, but in the case of this film, that is not an obstacle to enjoying it, only a minor snafu.

When a movie sports supporting (and even bit players) who are more interesting than the schmuck who happens to carry the load of an entire plot, something is sorely missing. Even so, a movie has to be made, and men like the title character -- Jeffrey (Steven Weber, looking at ease in a part that gives him one note, that is, to look and be lost and drowning in self-pity) -- do exist (I have known several and the only thing to do is to run the opposite direction and never look back in case one turns into a pillar of salt) and their drama, or lack thereof, is the stuff that could induce anyone to plant a bullet through their temples to be done with the pain.Now, let's see. Jeffrey's pain is that he's sworn off sex altogether. About this time he meets the Man of His Dreams (Michael T. Weiss, oozing dark masculinity). The catch: this Man is HIV-positive. So the dilemma lies: to be with a man who may or may not survive such a deadly disease (and risk his own life, since a moment of passion may be the dividing line between life and death) or to turn around and continue looking for Mr. Goodbar, even when Mr. Goodbar is right there for the asking.The premise makes for a a story that should be much, much darker and introspective, but Paul Rudnick has decided to make it a romantic comedy, and it works for the most part. Again, and going back to the top of this article, it's the supporting characters and bit players who make the adventures of Jeffrey worth experiencing: consider one surreal scene where Jeffrey calls his parents, who are extremely, implausibly, hilariously in tune with the times (when in fact they shouldn't) and go into frank discussions about Jeffrey's (lack of a) sex life. Looking at them, all 1950s excess, yammering in gay lingo, is enough to have anyone rolling on the floor.Other scenes are of equal hilarity: Patrick Stewart interrupting Kevin Nealon (as a reporter) announcing the sex change of a bit player (then unknown Gregory Ibarra) whose mother (Olympia Dukakis) has a whale of a time posing for cameras, and Nathan Lane as a priest who (unsuccessfully) tries to seduce Weber at church in a rather bizarre moment. Of the cast, however, Bryan Batt is the one who almost walks away with the movie as Stewart's lover, also dying of AIDS, and has some pretty outlandish scenes which make his character memorable. And of course, any movie that lampoons Mother Theresa has to have my vote, especially when it manages to pepper an erstwhile campy romance scene. One of the better entries of the Nineties not to feature gay men as unable to have sex lives and wallowing in corners, and a hoot to watch.

Have to say that I felt sick after watching this film.....one big fat fluffy mess. Its just jumping on the band wagon of the caring 90's "fad" of political correctness. Not even Sigourney Weaver could save this celluloid abomination. What a waste of time. It was disturbing to see elderly parents discussing gay saunas with their son....Im not a puritan at all....but it was just stupid and not even funny. The actor playing jeffrey...whoa..... was one of the worst performance I've ever seen !....I was told by a friend who is HIV positive that he actually walked out of this film at a screening 15 minutes into it because it was so agitating. I decided to hire it and see for myself why so many people, mostly gay, say that this is the worst movie they have ever seen.....now I know. Watch "The boys in the Band" (not really AIDS related) and "The Band Played On" (AIDS related) if you want to see something thats decent and at least watchable. Avoid this one....Im sure the director gets embarrassed when he looks back and realises what a mess this stupid film was.

I saw the trailer for this film on another DVD and ordered it on the strength of that. Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed throughout, save for the enjoyable camping by Patrick Stewart and an all-too-brief appearance by the always deft Nathan Lane.I think the film is best enjoyed by a female audience, the whole thing plays to camp stereotypes and I think many gay guys will find it insulting. (At least if they're sober..) Certainly Patrick Stewart seems to be enjoying the role, in his pink beret and flouncing neckerchiefs, but generally I'm left thinking it's the woeful product of a straight person's impression of the gay world. Its self-indulgent, self-conscious, smug and embarrassing. Sorry.